The owner doesn't cite big box bookstores or the economy for her exit, by the way.

This from Courant reporter Bill Leukhardt's story: "(Sarah) Bedell, 67, said concerns about her health, and not the faltering economy, prompted her recently to decide to retire after nearly 37 years in the business she said she still loves. The unrelenting six-day-a-week schedule has become too difficult for her, she said.

I wish Ms. Bedell well.

But I'm sure there are lots of people out there feeling a sense of loss over this.

And I'm hoping there's some entrepreneurial type out there willing to take on the place and keep it running.

I'm just thinking of all the poor students and their families already struggling to pay for an education.

And thinking back to my own second home -- Boston University's financial aid office, where I stressed and cried over each semester's tuition bill while begging for more time to come up with the cash. And then the exorbitant loans that followed me out.

The University of Connecticut's chief financial officer, Richard D. Gray, is recommending a 6.3 percent increase in tuition, room and board for the 2010-11 academic year.

If the university's board of trustees adopts Gray's proposal at its meeting next week, it would mean that in-state students would pay an additional $1,228 for tuition, room, board and fees while out-of-state students would pay an extra $2,212.

And more from Gray:

Gray said in a meeting with reporters this morning that while a 6.3 percent hike is not small, "We are still a tremendous value." He said the university has -- and would continue to have, even with this increase -- the fifth-lowest tuition among peer public universities.

"We are right in the middle of our peers," he said.

No, Mr. Gray -- here's what you're doing: You're killing parents and students with this hike. In case you've missed the economic disaster the rest of the world is living through, people either don't have, or are struggling to hold onto, their jobs.

Everything seems to be going up -- except the everyday person's salary.

Education is key to success. But if you can't afford an education, what are your options except failure?